The Cleveland Browns could look at hiring a Super Bowl-winning head coach.

Cleveland fired Kevin Stefanski after six seasons, and the Browns have begun interviewing candidates. The Browns have been linked to the likes of Jonathan Gannon, John Harbaugh, and Seattle Seahawks defensive coordinator Aden  Durde.

Now, Browns insider Mary Kay Cabot said Mike McCarthy is on Cleveland’s radar as a potential candidate to be hired as the head coach.

McCarthy last coached in 2024 when he went 7-10 with the Dallas Cowboys and was let go after five seasons in Dallas. He ended his tenure with the Cowboys going 49-35 and made the playoffs three times in his five years.

Before his tenure with the Cowboys, McCarthy was the head coach of the Green Bay Packers for 13 seasons. McCarthy won Super Bowl XLV with the Packers and finished his tenure in Green Bay with a record of 125-77-2.

Overall, as a head coach, McCarthy is 174-112-2, and he will likely be highly sought after by multiple teams, and the Browns are one of them. He spent the 2025 season away from coaching as he planned on focusing on the 2026 coaching cycle.

McCarthy Has Other Interviews Lined Up

Although McCarthy didn’t coach in 2025, he spent the year preparing for the 2026 coaching cycle.

Already, McCarthy has an interview lined up with the New York Giants, according to Adam Schefter.

NFL insider Tom Pelissero, meanwhile, believes McCarthy is a logical fit with the Giants and quarterback Jaxson Dart.

“McCarthy has a .608 career winning percentage, 12 playoff trips in 18 seasons and a strong QB development background. A logical fit with Jaxson Dart,” Pelissero wrote on X.

McCarthy is an offensive-minded head coach who would work well with a rookie quarterback, which is why this coaching cycle could fit him better.

So, if the Browns are interested in McCarthy, there will be competiton to hire him.

Browns Are Open-Minded in HC Search

With Cleveland opting to fire Stefanski, the Browns will be looking for a new head coach since 2020.

After firing Stefanski, Browns general manager Andrew Berry said the team will be open-minded on candidates. Whether that’s coaches with head coaching experience or not.

“We’ll be pretty open-minded,” Berry said on Monday. “I think there are a number of different archetypes of successful head coaches. I think about Kevin, I think it’s easy to forget now that he has, you know, two Coach of the Year awards on his mantle, that when he was interviewed first in 2019 and he didn’t get the job, and then again, I guess it was 2020 and he did.

“In both of those cycles, he had no head coaching experience, and we were the only team that interviewed him. And so, I think our responsibility is to search far and wide. There are good coaches out there. You know, we’ve just got to do our homework and find the right fit for us. We’ll have no preconceived notions as we go into the search.”

Cleveland will likely cast a wide net search before narrowing down a couple of candidates and eventually hiring the next head coach of the Browns.